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Having made his debut as a McLaren driver in 2007, Lewis Hamilton has gone on to establish himself as a modern-day F1 legend. Hamilton was fast, unbelievably mature, and he was constantly battling for the title.
By 2008, he had become the youngest F1 champion and a British superstar. Fast forward to 2024, and Lewis Hamilton is the biggest superstar in the sport. Furthermore, the driver is the most accomplished Formula 1 driver in history.
Having said that, even when it comes to someone of this stature, not everything is perfect, and the entire picture is not rosy. There are some harsh truths when it comes to Lewis Hamilton's career. In this feature, we will take a look at a few of them.
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#1 Lewis Hamilton's losses to teammates
To his army of followers, Lewis Hamilton is the GOAT, the best talent to have raced in Formula 1. While there's certainly an argument to be made there, there's a flip side as well.
Hamilton has lost to quite a few of his teammates throughout his career. In 2011, he was outperformed quite comprehensively by Jenson Button at McLaren. In 2016, after dominating Nico Rosberg for two years, Lewis lost the title fight to the German. Even at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton lost to teammate George Russell in 2022, beat him in 2023, but trails him in 2024.
The best measure of a driver is how he performs against a driver in the same car. The fact that Lewis has lost against three different teammates is certainly not a good look.
#2 Titles wins against lesser competition
Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time World Champion. Having said that, if we look at these titles, they reveal something very interesting. Let's go through his title triumphs:
2008: Beat Felipe Massa
2014: Beat Nico Rosberg
2015: Beat Nico Rosberg
2017: Best Sebastian Vettel
2018: Beat Sebastian Vettel
2019: Beat Valtteri Bottas
2020: Beat Valtteri Bottas
With the exception of Sebastian Vettel, none of the other drivers on the list were considered the best drivers on the grid at any stage of their careers. Felipe Massa was supposed to be the supporting cast for Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg was good but not the elite talent that Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel were; similarly, Valtteri Bottas was a pliant teammate at best.
Even the title wins against Sebastian Vettel had a major caveat that Ferrari would implode by mid-season in both 2017 and 2018, rendering the challenge unsuccessful. Almost all of these titles were won in circumstances where he was not competing against the top drivers on the grid.
#3 Dips pre- and post-Mercedes dominance
During the Mercedes dominance period, Lewis Hamilton was considered by many to be the best driver in Formula 1. Pre-2014, was he considered the best? Possibly not, since in 2013, that honor went to Sebastian Vettel, and during the period from 2009-2013, Lewis was not considered the best on the grid.
After the 2021 F1 season, Lewis has not been considered the best driver on the grid. This is true for 2022, 2023, and 2024 as well. One thing that stuck out throughout Lewis Hamilton's career was the clear relationship between his perceived peak times and the car he was driving.
#4 The Wet weather record fluctuation
Lewis Hamilton has been considered by many as this wet weather specialist. There are quite a few drives in the wet that suggest that he has earned this reputation. There is, however, once again a flip side to the narrative.
Lewis has demonstrated exceptional driving in victories at Silverstone (2008), Japan (2007), Germany (2018), and, most recently, Turkey (2020). All of these wins, however, were in cars that were brilliant in the wet weather. McLaren in 2007 and 2008 was a brilliant car, as was Mercedes from 2014–2020.
In between these two phases, is the dip. During the 2009–2013 period, Hamilton only emerged victorious in one race—the 2010 Spa race—while driving for McLaren. During the same time, we had his teammate Jenson Button take over the mantle of 'rain meister' on the grid and pick multiple race wins in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Since 2020, Lewis Hamilton has won only one rain affected event— Sochi, 2021, where rain made an appearance late in the race. Other than that, it's Max Verstappen who has completely taken over. This fluctuating form in the rain that varies depending on the cars, certainly brings Hamilton's wet-weather credentials into question.
#5 Losing crucial title battles
Finally, we look back at some of the crucial title battles that Hamilton has had with some of the elite talents on the grid. While Hamilton got one over Felipe Massa in 2008, or Nico Rosberg in 2014, there's the other side of the argument as well.
He lost the title battle in 2007 with a disastrous pit strategy in China and then the subsequent race in Brazil. In 2010, the middle part of his campaign, where he had multiple DNFs, hurt him, as he could have had a better shot at the title in the last race. To add to this, the 2016 and 2021 F1 title battles where Lewis made crucial errors in critical situations also cost him.
The driver showed that when he was battling the elites, he had a propensity to underperform in terms of what he needed to do with the car. This is definitely not a good look for a driver who is regarded as an all-time great.
